Akeelah and the Bee

(2006)

★ 7 IMDb · 364 votes

Genres: Drama

Year: 2006

Runtime: 112 мин

Country: United States of America

Director: Doug Atchison

Cast: Кеке Палмер, Лоренс Фишбёрн, Анджела Бассетт, Кёртис Армстронг, Х.Р. Вильярреаль, Sean Michael Afable, Sahara Garey, Ли Томпсон Янг, Julito McCullum, Erica Hubbard

Plot

11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.

Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.